The two orcs spotted us charging and instantly drew their swords and shields, bracing for the fight. I gave Shield Warrior a quick signal with my eyes, pointing right, and he raised his shield high before rushing the orc on that side.
Bang!
Shield-first, he slammed in, forcing the right-hand orc back a step from the impact.
In that moment, PrettyGirl and Charming rushed the orc on the left.
PrettyGirl brought her Forest Longsword down in a heavy slash, which the orc barely managed to block with its shield, grunting under the force.
Meanwhile, Charming had already circled wide and loosed arrows from her Forest Longbow. The orc, unable to dodge, took hit after hit, howling in pain.
That left only the mage at the rear.
The instant the battle began, he was already chanting. Without hesitation, I hurled the longsword in my right hand straight at him.
I twisted my entire body from the toes up, pouring torque into my arm and fingers. The Novice’s Longsword ripped free from my hand, tracing a clean arc through the air before burying itself dead-center in the mage’s face.
“Ggeh-ack!”
Even as the sword left my hand, I kicked off the ground, launching myself at the mage.
With my left-hand Forest Longsword, I slashed across his throat as I flew past. The spell fizzled instantly, canceled mid-cast.
I pivoted, slashed again, then once more—each cut deeper than the last. The mage, with his low HP, crumpled to the ground without ever finishing a spell.
I retrieved the fallen longsword, slipped behind the orc Shield Warrior was holding, and crossed my twin blades inward from the outside, ripping across its neck.
Then I pulled both blades the opposite way, carving back. The orc took catastrophic damage and collapsed immediately.
The last orc had already been cut down by PrettyGirl and Charming’s combined assault.
Shield Warrior gave the two girls a big thumbs-up. They answered with small, bright smiles.
“Let’s grab the loot.”
With the fight over, Shield Warrior started scooping items. Of course, everyone’s eyes were fixed not on the orcs’ corpses, but on the mage’s.
“There’s…”
“There’s one!”
In front of Charming and PrettyGirl floated a spellbook, its white cover rimmed in gold, glowing as it hovered in midair—waiting for its new owner.
***
“What should we do with this?”
The spellbook ended up in my hands. None of us had expected such a drop, and the party was buzzing with excitement.
Jaejung had warned us not to even go near mage spawns, so we hadn’t held out much hope. But with the developers randomizing mage respawn locations, fortune had dropped this one right into our lap.
“Does anyone need it?”
Sell it for cash? Maybe. But my gut told me it was better to let whoever could use it take it for the party’s sake. Still, if the others decided we should sell it for real money, I wasn’t about to fight them on it.
Shield Warrior lifted the new shield he’d picked up, scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed grin.
So—definitely not for that shield fanatic.
PrettyGirl glanced down at the sword in her hands, then at me, then tilted her head slightly before shaking it. A clear no.
She was already hooked on the feel of the blade in her grip.
That left all eyes turning toward Charming.
Her delicate brows furrowed for a moment in thought, then smoothed as she reached her decision.
“Would it be alright if I used it?”
Thankfully, Charming was still level 10. With a Stat Reset Scroll, she could redistribute five points. If she were already level 16, it’d be too late, but right now the timing was perfect.
“Of course, I’ll pay the proper price. I know these grimoires go for a lot.”
Everyone’s gaze swung to me again. …Why me? This was getting uncomfortable.
“Price, huh…”
My muttered words drew every eye tighter on me. I organized my thoughts, then spoke.
“Charming, you should go ahead and use it. After today’s hunt, we can settle by splitting the loot.”
“I think it’d be best if Charming used it too.”
“Works for me.”
At Shield Warrior’s and PrettyGirl’s words, Charming smiled gently and lowered her head.
“Thank you. I’ll use it well. Just… please make sure the next good drop goes to one of you.”
She pulled out a Stat Reset Scroll from her inventory and activated it. Golden light flared around her body, dazzling to behold.
“Intelligence 3, Mana 2? Or Intelligence 2, Mana 3… which is better?”
She had five points to work with, and she looked genuinely torn.
“Try putting one point in each first.”
Honestly, I’d never touched INT or Mana before, so I wasn’t sure. From what I’d read on the forums, INT raised magic attack, Mana raised MP pool, but just like STR, AGI, VIT, there were probably hidden effects.
Charming experimented, adjusting the stat window.
“Can’t learn it at INT 1. I’ll put another in.”
She tapped the interface again.
“There. It worked.”
At INT 2, the grimoire dissolved into a halo of light and was absorbed into her chest, just over her heart.
She studied her new ability for a moment, then raised her hand, pointing her index finger forward.
A translucent magic circle about thirty centimeters wide appeared at her fingertip. Blue runes I couldn’t even begin to read spun around its circumference.
【 Magic Arrow! 】
She whispered the incantation, and in that instant a white streak of light formed in the circle’s center and shot out in the direction she pointed.
Thwock!
The withered tree she had aimed at was pierced clean through, leaving only a faint trail of blue luminescence.
“That’s fast.”
Shield Warrior, awestruck, let out a low comment.
Even my eyes barely tracked it—its speed was that insane. I had no idea what the damage output was, but the sheer presence of that shining arrow ripping through the air was enough to leave me staring, slack-jawed.
Charming gazed at her fingertip, eyes alight, and spoke in a voice tinged with excitement.
“That was just Charge Level 1.”
“Charge?”
“Yes. After I form the magic circle, I can charge it with mana. The longer I charge, the higher the damage. The area gets bigger, the range and speed increase too. Basically, full charge is way more mana-efficient.”
So being a mage also required serious sense—knowing when to time your shots. Charge Level 1 seemed almost instant-cast. With her current stats, if she fired that at close range, I wasn’t sure I could dodge at all. At a distance, maybe.
“Two INT unlocks one spell slot. Looks like you need high INT to learn more. The base slot gives one, so right now I can learn two total.”
So… one spell at level 4? That was tighter than I’d expected. Even if you learned multiple spells, you had to slot them.
Charming continued testing, altering her casting methods, and ended with a look of deep satisfaction.
“It’s actually fun to use. I’ll have to see the damage against monsters.”
Watching her beam like a kid who’d just unwrapped a perfect gift—so unlike her usual composed self—I figured the grimoire had already proven its worth.
PrettyGirl seemed fascinated too, circling her like an excited younger sister.
“They say you really need a staff to use it properly. I hope we find another mage.”
Shield Warrior, now sitting nearby and watching the display, murmured almost wistfully.
It was true—staffs supposedly boosted magic damage. Whether we’d actually run into another mage was anyone’s guess. Worst case, we’d have to buy one.
In the end, Charming distributed her stats at INT 3 and Mana 2. The regen and pool increase seemed good enough.
“Alright! Let’s hunt again. We’ll see how much damage it does.”
Shield Warrior rose to his feet. I stood as well, with Charming and PrettyGirl following.
“Formation: I’ll take point. If there are two, I’ll handle one with PrettyGirl, and Jooho with Charming will take the other. If there are three, Jooho, you solo one while Charming helps PrettyGirl finish hers first.”
We all nodded, scanning for spawns.
“There, that group’s perfect—three orcs. PrettyGirl and I will each tie one up. Jooho, take the archer at the back.”
Same as before, just with the mage swapped out for an archer. We charged without hesitation.
The arrows the archer loosed were fast, but since it was just one shooter, the trajectory was easy to read and dodge.
As I fought, a booming whump sounded behind me. I turned just in time to see an orc blasted back, tumbling end over end—Charming’s spell detonating with force.
Damage aside, the sheer knockback was something else.
Even Charming herself looked startled at the sight of her target flying. Thanks to her support, the fight ended in seconds.
“I wasn’t sure about the damage, so I used a full charge. Guess it was too much.”
She laughed, flustered but pleased.
“Worth every coin. Let’s go farm another?”
“Orc Mages are like stars in the sky. Lucky we even got one. A second would be a miracle.”
Shield Warrior and I traded words as we waited for respawns, when PrettyGirl nudged me.
I turned, and she pointed into the distance.
“There… a mage.”
A mage?
Sure enough, where she pointed, a robed figure stood. The path was clear, no monsters between us. Shield Warrior and Charming had already spotted it too.
“Run!”
This was insane luck. Jackpot, twice in a row.
We broke into a sprint, but from the opposite direction another party appeared.
Four players as well—three men and a woman. But instead of heading toward the mage, they altered course straight toward us. The air bristled with hostility.
A fight?
I clenched both longswords tight in my hands.